Young at heart: A conversation with Drew Benton and Adrian Avena

“Don’t you know…”

Dateline: Mille Lacs AOY gig

“It takes a long time to become young.”
Pablo Picasso

“Do you know who Paul McCartney is?”

“No.”

“Do you?”

“No.”

“You?”

“No.”

“Do any of you know who the Beatles are?”

Rookie of the Year angler Drew Benton looks across the table at fellow rookie, and good friend, Adrian Avena, who looks sideways at his girlfriend, Brooke Finner, then all three look my way and as if on cue…shake their heads, no.

One of them, I’m to much in shock to even write down which one said it, “I think I’ve heard of them, my parents maybe said something.”

I’m breaking cheeseburgers with three young people whose combined age is only 14 years older than my one arse old age.

For reference, I remember Paul McCartney when he and the lads from Liverpool wore Nehru jackets. I remember hearing “I Want To Hold Your Hand” before I ever actually held a girl’s hand that wasn’t my mother’s.

In my entire life there has only been 12 years that the Beatles weren’t in it.

Then from Adrian, “Have you ever heard of Justin Moore?”

“Who?”

Drew, “What about Eric Church.”

“Um.”

Touché, young ones.

Touché.

“…that it’s worth…”

We are sitting in a restaurant booth at this AOY gig thing, both Drew and Adrian are fishing it, Brooke is BASSTrakk’ing it.

I know nothing about any of them.

So here goes, meet my dinner guests (I bought the burgers with the caveat that they at least YouTube McCartney/The Beatles):

Drew Benton, just crowned this year’s Rookie of the Year. Here’s Drew:

“I’m 28, from Panama City, Fla., married to Amanda have a 2-year-old son, Cade, played baseball, catcher , in college, graduated with a degree from FSU in marketing, in the offseason I work the docks as a crane operator, 100 feet up unloading steel and paper, I’m a longshoreman like my dad.”

Drew is an avid deer hunter, “If I could make a living at it that’s what I would be doing.” Other than fishing is a huge baseball, MLB fan.

Here’s Adrian:

“I’m 26 from Vineland, N.J., graduated college with a degree in business, in the offseason I run two charter boats out of Cape May, N.J., mainly for striped bass, run a 43 foot Egg Harbor and a 28 foot Southport, I have my 6-pack Master Charter License, I reckon I do 40 trips in two months in the offseason.”

Adrian, while living in New Jersey, is a “huge anything Philly sports related fan, Eagles, Phillies, 76’ers, Flyers.” 

BTW: Adrian is part Jersey Italian and German and told me, “We never called the sauce we put on spaghetti gravy like that Soprano show, we called it sauce, my mother made it fresh with tomatoes.”

Mine too dude, mine too.

Now, while I’m interviewing the two Elite anglers a young lady is sitting across from me all quiet like, which of course I have none of that, “So tell me about you too.”

Brooke’s face turns red and I say, “It’s okay, you’re here I’m not about to ignore you, when I do stories I just tell what happened, and you’re here so…”

Brooke: “I met Adrian when he came up to pre-fish at La Crosse, I love to fish, have my own bass boat, I’m a medical assistant at an Allergy clinic in town, we just hit it off so I came up here to watch him compete and add support.”

There you go, welcome to dinner, without having to pick up the tab.

“…every treasure on earth…”

“Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.”

 Helen Hayes

Every time I look in the mirror I scare the bejesus out of myself because the dude I’m looking at can’t possibly be the dude that is looking back at me.

Mirrors should show our soul, not our skin. All my mirror reflects is what I’m wrapped in, but it doesn’t show me.

I’m 64 years old, the human to dog year age online calculator says I’m around 288 years old if I was a Shih Tzu which is pretty much how old my back, my knees, elbows, hands, fingers, ankles and night time peeing feel like.

My soul though is still that of the 22 year old who first kissed my wife Barb some 42 years ago.

I will not go gently into the elderly.

Creativity comes from your S-O-U-L not your D-O-B.

Truth be told, I think when all is said and I’m done I will learn more from my children than they will have learned from me.

Sure, one day my children, like me, will be freaked when they discover that most of the people running things, most of the establishment will in fact have graduated high school about the same time they did, truly scary, but age has nothing to do with growing old.

Know this, the skin you are in has nothing to with what lies within.

“…to be young at heart…”

Drew is in the 2017 Bassmaster Classic, Adrian though, “I need a miracle I’m on the outside looking in.”

Brooke, who has ordered, “extra sweet pickles,” with her burger looks at Adrian and says, “these are the best pickles I’ve ever eaten…”

Adrian looks at her and smiles, says to me, “She’s a pickle freak.”

I ask what kind of pickles and she says, “bread and butter.” Adrian is trying to scrape the mayonnaise off the lettuce on his cheeseburger while Brooke reaches over and takes his bun, lettuce and mayo filled, and replaces with her non-mayo bun.”

Drew elbows me as we watch this and says, “Can’t have mayo touch his hamburger bun you know.”

Brooke now has two burger bun tops, Adrian two burger bun bottoms, everyone is happy. “I don’t actually look at the points, I just go out and fish, the points will take care of themselves if I fish well, my family though keeps track of my points.”

I look across from me to see Brooke scrolling through the AOY points on her smartphone.

Drew, “I never look. You’d be on a roller coaster if you did.”

Adrian: “If you focus too much on the other stuff that isn’t the actual fishing part you can get spun out, I do get spun out at times but when that happens I just talk to myself…”

“Out loud, do you talk to yourself out loud?” I do, but I’m old and lived through the 1960s so, you know…

“Yep, I talk to myself out loud and answer myself out loud.”

I shoot a quick glance at Brooke. She didn’t seem freaked by that so I’m okay as well.

I also look at Drew and from his look at his buddy, I’m pretty sure, not something I would swear in court to, but I’d bet Drew isn’t on the front deck of his bass boat having a conversation with, Drew.

“It’s not weird db when I do it, just calms me down, gets me back to basics, it’s not a tantrum, I’m not mad I’m just talking it through, with you know, me.”

I do, which I just actually said out loud in an empty hotel room as I write this alone, talking to myself.

“…and as rich as you…”

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”
Aldous Huxley

Drew, “I’m here to fish and I’m going to fish my heart out, and I know he (Adrian) is doing the same, we both set our goal for this year to end up in the 2017 Bassmaster Classic, I’ve made it, he’s fishing like crazy to make it, but just because I’m in I’m not backing it down.”

Adrian: “Remember, sitting in the stands…”

Drew: “Will never forget it.”

I say nothing, if they want me to know they will tell me. 

Drew turns to look at me, “db I was, we were in the stands at the Bassmaster Classic when Randy Howell won, I’ll never forget that moment, we will never forget that moment, I turned to my wife and said, told her, one day that will be me…”

Adrian: “Me too, I want to be down there on that Classic floor, me too and to get there it’s all between your ears, it’s as much a mind game as a talent game, takes a huge amount of want to.”

“…it’s much better by far…”

Way out there on Mille Lacs sits an angler who may or may not be talking to himself, for whom a miracle may or may not come.

Way out there.

To the three young people who I broke cheeseburgers with, let me tell you of another miracle, we are all given the ability to stay young no matter how old we actually are.

Young at heart, is the fountain of youth.

In fact I’ve learned that when you talk out loud, the child within is the one who answers you back.

“That’s right db,” Donnie…

“…to be young at heart.”
Young At Heart
Jimmy Durante

db

“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
George Burns